Thomas Lewis Preston

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Thomas L. Preston, ca.1900

Thomas Lewis Preston (1812 - 1903) graduated from the University of Virginia, where he later became a professor and Rector for the University of Virginia’s Board of Visitors, which was the position he held during the 1864-1865 school year. It was during this time period that Union Generals Philip Sheridan and George Custer made their way to the University. Along with two other professors, Preston was able to keep the University from receiving any major damage during the Union Occupation of the University of Virginia. [1]


T. L. Preston lived through the transformative nineteenth century, through the transition from slavery to Civil War and Reconstruction. Throughout these changes, he had a reputation as being a charismatic gentleman of the highest caliber. He was a deeply religious man and invited both his relatives and some of the most distinguished persons from the South into his home. While he may not be the most accomplished of the Prestons, he was greatly respected by his family and peers and lived a long, varied, and eventful life.[1]

Early Years

Thomas Lewis Preston was born in Abingdon, Virginia on November 20, 1812 to Francis Preston and Sarah Buchanan Campbell. He was their youngest son and the younger brother to future politicians William Campbell Preston and John Smith Preston. He was a student at the University of Virginia from 1830 to 1833, where he studied law. He was a member of the prestigious Jefferson Society, where he developed the strong oratory skills that he was greatly known for. He was also elected the military teacher for the school while a student. After graduation he spent several years abroad in Europe and the Holy Lands, where he learned a great deal about the people and culture of those countries. He married twice, first to Elizabeth Watts, a distant cousin, and later to Anna Maria Saunders (d. November 27, 1911). He had no children, but adopted his wife’s two nieces after the Civil War.[1]

Career

Preston inherited the family salt works on the banks of the Holston River. He was the last person in the family to hold the Preston salt works company after being given both his brothers’ shares after their mother’s passing. Despite holding on to the salt works company for over a decade he was unable to succeed in the business, nor was he particularly enamored with the works. In 1862, he sold both the works and the John Montgomery Preston House, which had been built by his brother-in-law.[1]

Civil War

In 1861, war broke out across the nation, tearing it into two. Preston was a slaveholder and held sympathetic views to his home state of Virginia. Thus it was natural that he would decide to enlist as a soldier in the Confederacy after Virginia seceded from the Union in April 1861. At the time he was 47 years old, which was above the typical age for a person’s first military service. He served as part of the staff under his kinsman General Joseph E. Johnston and was praised by General Stonewall Jackson for his effort during the first Battle of Bull Run. He was also praised by the Secretary of War, Judah P. Benjamin. However, after one year of service the war department of Virginia decommissioned him as a officer. Subsequently, Preston focused on his role as Rector for the University of Virginia’s Board of Visitors, which was the position he held during the 1864-1865 school year. It was during this time period that Union Generals Philip Sheridan and George Custer made their way to the University. Along with two other professors, Preston was able to keep the University from receiving any major damage during the Union Occupation of the University of Virginia, though several of his slaves fled with the Union army.[1]

Post-Civil War

  • From his former plantation on the outskirts of Charlottesville, Col. Preston divvied up small parcels of land and gave them to his former slaves, including Rives Minor - the father of Asalie Minor Preston. According to Asalie, many of Col. Preston's former slaves couldn't make a living on the acre or so of land that he had given them...they would usually just abandon it and go to places like Washington, West Virginia and Philadelphia to find work.[2] Asalie Minor was married to Leroy "Roy" C. Preston. Roy was born in New York to William "Willie" Preston and Mary Spinner Preston - sometime before 1907, his family moved from New York to Charlottesville.
In 1863, Thomas Lewis and Anna Maria Saunders Preston bought the 102.25-acre Wyndhurst tract from Sally Ann McCoy. According Asalie Minor Preston, when the Civil War ended, Col. Preston divvied up small parcels of his land and gave them to his former slaves, including Asalie's father, Rives Minor.[2]After emancipation, some of the enslaved carried the Preston name and settled nearby.
  • On May 29, 1890, under the command of Major General Thomas L. Rosser, Preston was among the 200 Confederate Veterans from Charlottesville’s J. Bowie Strange Camp in the procession of the Robert E. Lee Statue unveiling on Monument Avenue. The event was covered extensively, both by local and national press. The Robert E. Lee equestrian sculpture, didn’t go up until nearly 25 years after the Civil War.

Later Years

Toward the end of his life, Preston published two books. One of them focused on the life of his maternal grandmother, Elizabeth Campbell Russell, and the other was about the history and settlement of Southwestern Virginia. Both volumes were designed to preserve valuable material for future historians. Colonel Thomas Lewis Preston, reported in the Daily Progress as "one of the oldest residents of Albemarle county", died at 2 o’clock the morning of March 20, 1903 at his home “Wyndhurst,” on Preston Heights, near the University. He was ninety-one. Col. T. L. Preston was buried in the University of Virginia Cemetery and Columbarium. There were no children.[1]

Preston Namesakes

Once part of the Andrew F. Craven farms, and later named Barracks Road, the road became know as Preston Avenue after the Civil War - taking its name from the many freedman land owners named Preston who live along the street and/or Thomas Lewis Preston. In 2019 the City Council unanimously backed naming Preston Avenue in honor of the educator Asalie Minor Preston, this after Councilor Wes Bellamy first proposed re-naming the street in December 2018. [3]

Sketch of the Dead

Thomas Lewis Preston, born in Abingdon, Virginia, November 20, 1812, was of the distinguished Preston family from which came so many statesmen and orators, among them his brilliant brothers, Hon. William C. Preston, United States senator from South Carolina, and John S. Preston. Thomas L. Preston attended the University of Virginia, 1830-33, and in the latter year graduated from the law school. He made a protracted tour of Europe and the Holy Land, and after his return settled down to the life of a gentleman planter and man of affairs, a large part of his occupation being the management of large salt works in the co unties of Washington and Smythe, which were the property of his family. He made a heroic effort to conduct the salt works successfully, and sacrificed his large estate in the endeavor, but with out avail. He then removed to Albemarle county, and purchased property just north of the University of Virginia, which was his abode during the remainder of his life, and he was residing upon it when the civil war began. Although beyond the age of military service, he entered the Confederate army, in which he served with gallantry, and during a portion of the time was a member of the staff of his near kinsman, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston. During the war, he was appointed to membership on the university board of visitors, and served as rector. In that capacity, in company with Professors Minor and Maupin, he met the Federal troops on the occasion of their entrance into Charlottesville, in March, 1865, and made a formal surrender of the venerable university buildings to Gen. Phil Sheridan, who received Col. Preston and his colleagues with urbanity and respect, and afforded to the property protection and safety. Col. Preston was twice a member of the Virginia legislature, and could have attained to more distinguished position had he so desired. He preferred, however, to devote himself to his large family interests. Yet he preserved a deep interest in all public affairs, and wielded a potent influence throughout his county and its vicinage. He was of high cultivation, of extensive reading in English and the classics, a graceful and eloquent speaker. He wielded a facile pen, and devoted some years of his later life to the preparation and publication of one or more volumes relating to the history of southwest Virginia. He served many years as vestryman in Christ Church, Charlottesville. He lived many years beyond the time allotted to mortal man. Col. Preston's first wife was a daughter of Gen. Edward Watts, of Roanoke, Virginia; she died very soon after her marriage. Some years later, Col. Preston married Anne M. Saunders, a daughter of Gen. Fleming Saunders, of Franklin county, Virginia.[4]


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References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Web. Thomas Lewis Preston: Southern Gentleman, Allison Hurley
  2. 2.0 2.1 Web. Minor Preston: Major Impact, David Maurer, Daily Progress, February 24, 2008
  3. Web. Council OKs changing Preston namesake, Nolan Stout, Daily Progress, Lee Enterprises, Feb 5, 2019
  4. Web. [1]

External links

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial//thomas-lewis-preston